The management at a certain company opposes the use of

Question

The management at a certain company opposes the use of machine X, since machine X produces 5 percent fewer units per hour than does machine Y. However, management is neglecting to consider that the quality of the units produced by machine X is superior to the quality of those produced by machine Y. For example, only 2 percent of the units produced by machine X were found to be defective. Therefore, the managers’ objections are invalid; the company should use machine X.

Which of the following, if true, could best be used as a basis for arguing against the author’s position that the managers should use machine X? 
 
(A) Machine X is 5 years old. 
 
(B) Two percent of the units produced by machine Y are defective. 
 
(C)The managers have been analyzing a new machine that produces 10 percent more units per hour than does machine X. 
 
(D) Machine X is more expensive to maintain than is machine Y. 
 
(E) The quality of the product is often not the sole consideration when deciding which machine to use.

agdimple333 · Answer

B.

Author prefers machine X ONLY because of the quality of goods produced by it & mentions it only produces 2% defective goods.

if machine Y also, only produces 2% defective goods... is the basis of arguing against the author's position of prefering machine X over Y.

crick20002002 · Answer

+1 for B. If the proportion of defective units is the same, the machine which produces more units should be the choice.

Crick

JohnGaltMBA · Answer

This is a comparison question. We first need to follow the argument. Machine Y produces more units per hour than machine X. Thus, the company is going to stop using X. The author says, not so fast, Machine X should still be used because it produces superior quality products than Y and uses the defective rate as support.

A) is wrong because we don't know how old Machine Y is, nor do we know how age factros into the quality the parts.

B) is correct because it shows that based on the defective rate - the support the author uses to indicate X is superior Y - Y and X are equivalent. If Y and X are equivalent in quality, then it makes sense to go with the Machine that produces more units per hour.

C) is wrong because we're talking about X and Y. A new machine is irrelevent to the author's argument or whether we should keep X.

D) This is a separate argument completely. Yeah, Machine Y might make more units than X and it might be less expensive and might have 100 other advantages. The author however focuses on QUALITY. That's the reason Machine X should be used. It is better quality than Machine Y. Therefore, the correct answer choice must relate to the quality of the units.

E) is wrong because it desn't counter the author's position. The author says that Machine X SHOULD be used. Detailing what a position or policy is does nothing to counter the author's normative argument.

ssriva2 · Answer

B.Y has same defective rate(quality) and produces more unit.Y is superior

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

The management at a certain company opposes the use of machine X, since machine X produces 5 percent fewer units per hour than does machine Y. However, management is neglecting to consider that the quality of the units produced by machine X is superior to the quality of those produced by machine Y. For example, only 2 percent of the units produced by machine X were found to be defective. Therefore, the managers’ objections are invalid; the company should use machine X.
 
The argument is in support of machine X. It claims that although machine X produces less units per hour, it produces better quality units than machine Y, given that only 2 percent of machine X units are defective.

Which of the following, if true, could best be used as a basis for arguing against the author’s position that the managers should use machine X?

The correct answer choice demonstrates why machine X should not be used.

A) Machine X is 5 years old.  We can't make a comparison without Machine Y's age.

B)  Two percent of the units produced by machine Y are defective. 
 
 This would mean that machine X and Y produce the same quality of units and machine X still falls behind in efficiency and should not be used

C) The managers have been analyzing a new machine that produces 10 percent more units per hour than does machine X. 
 We're concerned with machine X's superiority. Also, since we're considering defective units, we have no information on the quality of the new machine.

D) Machine X is more expensive to maintain than is machine Y. 
 We're concerned with the performance of the machine, not the cost to maintain it.

E) The quality of the product is often not the sole consideration when deciding which machine to use.
 It's already stated in the stimulus that efficiency is also a consideration.

gmatusamba · Answer

i do not agree with the answer and the reasoning because we are told that x produces 5 percent fewer units per hour than does machine Y so lets take some numerical values, suppose y produces 100 units so x will produce 95 units so 2% of 95 is still less than 2% 0f 100 so how can the defective rate be equal for both machines. Still machine X is more efficient, on the other hand choice D says that X costs more in maintenance which is precisely the concern of the management i.e cost saving so D should be the answer.

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

"i do not agree with the answer and the reasoning because we are told that x produces 5 percent fewer units per hour than does machine Y so lets take some numerical values, suppose y produces 100 units so x will produce 95 units so 2% of 95 is still less than 2% 0f 100 so how can the defective rate be equal for both machines. Still machine X is more efficient, on the other hand choice D says that X costs more in maintenance which is precisely the concern of the management i.e cost saving so D should be the answer."

I see why one would think that. But I believe the question is saying that 2 percent and 5 percent of the same number of units (as opposed to the 2 percent and 5 percent of the units that X and Y produce in the same hour). Cost is not relevant to the argument. The stimulus provides no information on the concern of management with cost savings.

shallow9323 · Answer

However, management is neglecting to consider that the quality of the units produced by machine X is superior to the quality of those produced by machine Y
:
By attacking this sentence the basic premise upon which the author begins the argument;
 Option E seems sound logic.

assaad · Answer

my take :
option B 
consider Machine X is producing 95 units per hour 
machine Y is producing 100 units per hour 
machine X is short in production by 5 units in comparison to machine Y (that's what the argument states)
now if 2 % of the 95 units are defective , remains 93 units (not-defective)
as for machine Y per option B (we will have 98 units not defective) thus a bigger number than machine Y and same quality.WEAKENS

Axwe7 · Answer

MartyMurray   KarishmaB

I see why B) is a weakener, though, it only weakens the 'defect' aspect of product quality. Option E) on the other hand, despite being more general, says that quality as a whole - whether it be defect rate, longevity etc. - is not the only consideration. Under this reasoning, wouldn't there be a case to say that E) is a stronger weakener than B) (which only attacks one aspect of quality)?

KarishmaB · Answer

Option (B) attacks the logic of the author and that is why is a weakener of this argument.

Machine X produces 5 percent fewer units per hour than does machine Y. - This means if Y makes 100 units an hour, X makes 95.
Only 2 percent of the units produced by machine X were found to be defective - This means that of the 95 products X produces only about 2 are defective so 93 are good and will earn money to the company

Based on this, the author is claiming that use X.

Now what if defect rate of Y is very low too, say 2%? Then of the 100 products it produces, only 2 are defective for Y too. Then 98 products are good and will earn money to the company. So in fact, the company should use Y.

That is why (B) weakens the author's logic. 
On the other hand, (E) is a very subtle weakener, if at all. There are other parameters too, not just quality doesn't mean X doesn't live up to the standards in case of other parameters. Hence (E) is not correct.

guddo · Answer

The management at a certain company opposes the use of machine X, since machine X produces 5 percent fewer units per hour than does machine Y. However, management is neglecting to consider that the quality of the units produced by machine X is superior to the quality of those produced by machine Y. For example, only 2 percent of the units produced by machine X were found to be defective. Therefore, the managers’ objections are invalid; the company should use machine X. 
 
Which of the following, if true, could best be used as a basis for arguing against the author’s position that the managers should use machine X?

The author argues that machine X should be used because, although it is slower, it supposedly produces higher-quality units.  The best objection  would show that X does not actually have the claimed quality advantage over  machine Y .

(A) Machine X is 5 years old.

This does not help much. The age of machine X alone does not show that it is worse than machine Y.

(B) Two percent of the units produced by machine Y are defective.

This is correct. The author’s evidence for X’s superior quality is that only 2 percent of X’s units are defective. But if Y also has only 2 percent defective units, then X has no advantage on this quality measure. Since X is slower and not better in defect rate, the case for using X is weakened.

(C) The managers have been analyzing a new machine that produces 10 percent more units per hour than does machine X.

This does not directly compare X with Y on the issue in the argument. A possible third machine does not show that X should not be chosen over Y.

(D) Machine X is more expensive to maintain than is machine Y.

This weakens somewhat, because it gives another reason not to use X. But it does not attack the author’s main claim as directly as (B), which challenges the alleged quality advantage.

(E) The quality of the product is often not the sole consideration when deciding which machine to use.

This is too general. We already know output rate matters. The stronger objection is that X may not even be better in quality.

Answer: (B)

The management at a certain company opposes the use of

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The management at a certain company opposes the use of

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